General remote translator

ABSTRACT

A voice-translating remote control includes a microphone operable to receive voice command, thereby outputting a voice signal; an audio transmitter operably connected to the microphone to transmit an audio input signal to a host system based on the voice signal; a signal receiver to receive a command signal transmitted by the host transmitter; and a signal transmitter operably connected to the signal receiver to transmit a control signal to an appliance based on the command signal.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates generally to voice-recognitiondevices.

[0003] 2. Background Art

[0004] The use of speech-recognition (or voice-recognition) technologyis becoming a viable means to control one's environment. As thesophistication of the speech-recognition technology increases and thecost of the equipment decreases, the use of speech-activated deviceswill become commonplace. Applications for speech recognition technologyare numerous. Obvious examples include the control of appliances,consumer electronics, toys, and tools. Speech recognition technology ismost useful when the hands and/or eyes are busy or useless, e.g., whiledriving or in a dark room. Furthermore, speech recognition technologycan be a big help for people with physical impairments.

[0005] Speech recognition technology has been under development forseveral decades. This development has resulted in a variety of hardwareand software tools for personal computers. Voice-recognition systemsused to require specialized circuit boards (i.e., those with digitalsignal processors (DSPs)) and software. With the development of morepowerful and sophisticated computer hardware, the need for specializedcircuit boards has disappeared. Currently, most voice-recognitionsoftware can take advantage of the generally available computerhardware.

[0006] Voice-recognition technology comes in two flavors: finite commandrecognition (trivial voice recognition) and true dictation recognition(nontrivial voice recognition). The trivial voice recognition simplymatches the speech pattern of a spoken command with a stored set ofknown commands. This type of voice recognition is relativelystraightforward and does not require costly and bulky equipment orsoftware. In contrast, the nontrivial voice recognition can analyze thevoice to recognize parts of speech, grammar, word meaning, and context.This type of voice recognition requires relatively expensive hardwareand software. The hardware for nontrivial voice recognition tends to bebulky and cannot be incorporated into small devices.

[0007] The nontrivial voice-recognition technology can be furthersubdivided into two categories: discrete and continuous voicerecognition. In discrete voice recognition, each spoken word must beseparated by a brief pause (usually a few tenths of a second) so thatthe computer may distinguish the beginning and ending of words. Incontrast, continuous voice recognition requires no pauses between thewords and can process words spoken in a normal speech. The degree ofsophistication of a continuous speech recognition system is oftendetermined by the size of its vocabulary.

[0008] Speech recognition tools also can be classified intospeaker-dependent and speaker-independent categories. The speakerdependent tools require a user to participate in extensive trainingexercises to drill the system to recognize the user's voice profile. Themachine will then respond to the specific user. After such training, theaccuracy of speech recognition is usually respectable. With a speakerindependent system, on the other hand, no training of the system isrequired; any user can begin to use the machine, which will then attemptto adapt (“train”) itself to the voice profile of the user. With thespeaker independent system, the initial accuracy rate for voicerecognition is less desirable, but it increases with use.

[0009] The choice of which type of voice-recognition applications to useis often dictated by the resources required. The cost of nontrivialspeech-recognition tools has come down significantly in recent years.However, it is typically still too expensive to be deployed in remotecontrols for appliances such as household appliances and consumerelectronics (herein, “appliance” will be used as a general term to referto all types of electrical appliances and consumer electronics used inhouseholds or vehicles). In addition, the hardware required fornontrivial applications tends to be too bulky to be incorporated intosmall consumer products. In contrast, remote controls using othertechnologies (e.g., push buttons plus infrared or radio frequencytramsmitters) are more affordable. Consequently, they are widely usedfor controlling consumer electronics and appliances.

[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,088, issued to Ciluffo, discloses avoice-activated remote control that uses the trivial command recognitiontechnology and allows for only dozens of preprogrammed voice commands.U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,986 B1 issued to Matulich et al., discloses avoice-activated device that controls a household electrical switch or anAC circuit. The Matulich device also uses the trivial voice-recognitiontechnology. Thus, there exists a need to have remote controls that canrespond to more sophisticated voice commands such as “VCR, tape theprogram from 8 to 9 PM and from 10 to 11 PM tonight.” This type ofsophisticated command will require nontrivial, continuousvoice-recognition technology.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0011] One aspect of the present invention relates to voice-translatingremote controls for appliances, such as stereos, video cassetterecorders (VCR), televisions (TV), coffee makers, microwave ovens, andlights. As a result, the remote control acts as a translator from voice(analog) to remote control commands (digital). One embodiment of theinvention comprises a voice-translating remote control that includes amicrophone and an audio input transmitter. The microphone receives voiceinput from a user, thereby outputting a voice signal. The audiotransmitter transmits an audio input signal based on the voice signal toa host system, which includes a voice-recognition processor. After thehost system has processed the audio input signal, it transmits a controlsignal directly to an appliance.

[0012] In another embodiment, the voice-translating remote controlfurther comprises a signal receiver and a signal transmitter, which areoperably connected. In this embodiment, the host system, afterprocessing the audio input signal, transmits a command signal to thesignal receiver in the remote control. The signal transmitter in theremote control then transmits a control signal based on the commandsignal to an appliance.

[0013] Another aspect of the invention relates to a system forvoice-activated control of an appliance. The system comprises a hostsystem and a remote control. The host system comprises a host receiver,a voice-recognition processor, and a host transmitter. The remotecontrol comprises a microphone to receive voice command and to output avoice signal. An audio input signal based on the voice signal istransmitted by a suitable transmitter (e.g., an audio transmitter) inthe remote control to the host system. The audio input signal receivedby the host system is processed by the voice-recognition processor togenerate a command signal which is then transmitted either directly tothe appliance or to the remote control which then transmits a controlsignal based on the command signal to an appliance.

[0014] In yet another aspect, embodiments of the invention relate tomethods for controlling an appliance by voice command. The methodcomprises receiving a voice command by the remote control to output avoice signal, transmitting an audio input signal based on the voicesignal by an audio transmitter in the remote control to the host system,processing the audio input signal by the voice-recognition processor inthe host system to generate a command signal, and transmitting thecommand signal to an appliance or to the remote control which thenretransmits a control signal based on the command signal to anappliance. The remote control may require userinteraction/acknowledgment before forwarding the command signal to anappliance.

[0015] One advantage of the invention is that the voice-translatingremote controls of the present invention may use the traditional,affordable infrared or RF technology, but provide the convenience andflexibility afforded by voice-recognition technology. By using a hostsystem to handle speech-recognition, there is no need to duplicate theexpensive resources for each control for the appliances and consumerelectronic devices. Furthermore, by having a separate host system toprocess the voice recognition, the system is highly customizable. Theprograms for translation or voice recognition can easily be updated orchanged, and the host has to “learn” only once the characteristics of auser's voice, appliance identification information, etc. Similarly, whenupdating a user's voice (when adding or changing a user) or applianceidentification information, it is much simpler to update a host systemthan to update each remote control. Other advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent with the following discussion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0016]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of avoice-translating remote control system of the present invention.

[0017]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of avoice-translating remote control of the present invention.

[0018]FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of avoice-translating remote control of the present invention.

[0019]FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of avoice-translating remote control of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 2C is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of avoice-translating remote control of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of avoice-recognition processor of the present invention.

[0022]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the steps involved in some embodimentsof a voice-translating remote control system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The invention relates to use of the nontrivial voice-recognitionresources in a way that is affordable such that they can be used tocontrol various electronic and electrical devices such as those found inhomes, automobiles, boats, etc. Embodiments of the present inventionemploy a nontrivial voice-recognition resource centralized in a machineseparate from the remote control units so that the expensivevoice-recognition resources need not be duplicated for each remotecontrol and/or appliance. Using the voice-recognition resources in thehost system, the remote controls behave as a general remote translator(GRT), which can translate relatively sophisticated voice command into aproper control signal for any specific appliance. These remote controlsmay be generally referred to as “voice-translating remote controls.”

[0024]FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of thepresent invention. A user 11 utters a voice command 21, which is notlimited to the preprogrammed short command words, to a remote control10. “Remote control” is generally used herein to refer to a device forcontrolling an appliance; it may look like, but is not identical to, aconventional remote control. In some embodiments, the remote control 10may include a user interface (which may include an LCD display) and maylook like a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (e.g., a PalmPilot™ from Palm, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif.). Embodiments of theinvention can also be used in an embedded system. For example, a deviceequivalent to the remote control 10 may be installed in a car to allow adriver to talk commands.

[0025] An audio input signal 25 is derived from the voice command 21 andtransmitted to a host receiver 51 on a remote host system 50. The hostsystem 50, which can be a dedicated unit or part of a general usecomputer, includes the host receiver 51, a voice-recognition processor52, and a host transmitter 53. The voice-recognition processor 52includes the necessary hardware and software for processing the voicerecognition.

[0026] The audio input signal 25 received by the host receiver 51 isprocessed by the voice-recognition processor 52 to generate a commandsignal 35, which is transmitted by the host transmitter 53 to the remotecontrol 10. The command signal 35 could include information such as theidentity of the appliance 60 to be controlled and the command to be sentto the appliance 60. In this case, the identity of appliance 60 isextracted from the audio input signal 25 by the voice-recognitionprocessor 52, which has in its memory (not shown) such identificationinformation and the correct carrier frequency or pulse pattern (IR orRF) to control this particular appliance. In one embodiment, suchappliance identification information and corresponding uniquefrequencies or pulse patterns could be remotely updated periodicallyfrom a database server connected to the Internet.

[0027] Alternatively, the command signal 35 may not include theappliance 60 identification information. Instead, a user may performsome act (e.g., pressing a button or a combination of buttons) on theremote control 10 to identify the appliance 60 to be controlled. In yetanother embodiment, shown in FIG. 2A, the remote control may include atrivial voice-recognition processor 15, which extracts the applianceidentification information from the voice signal 26. The applianceidentification information (or unique frequency or pulse pattern) may besent to the audio transmitter 20 to be included in the audio inputsignal 25 sent to the host system 50. Alternatively, this identificationinformation may be used by the remote control 10 to generate a properfrequency or pulse pattern to encode the control signal 16 sent to theappliance 60.

[0028] The host system 50 may be a dedicated machine (an appliance) orpart of a computer. It can be situated on the premises where theappliance 60 is located or it can be in a remote location so long as theremote control 10 (GRT) can communicate with the host system 50. Suchcommunication, i.e., the transmission of the audio input signal 25 andthe command signal 35 to and from the host system, can be accomplishedeither by wireless (e.g., radio frequency, microwave, or infraredcommunication) or wired (e.g., household wiring, local area network,wide area network, or internet) means. The wireless communication meansis preferred for sake of mobility. The host system 50 does not have tobe housed in one physical unit. For example, the host receiver 51 andthe host transmitter 53 might be housed in separate units from thathousing the voice-recognition processor 52. If these units are housed indifferent physical units, they should be in communication via a wirelessor wired means; preferably a wired means.

[0029] The command signal 35 received by the remote control 10 istransmitted as a control signal 16 to the appliance to be controlled 60.The transmission of the control signal 16 can be accomplished by any ofthe wireless communication means such as infrared (IR) or radiofrequency (RF). The type of the communication means will be determinedby the receiver (not shown) on the appliance 60. In some embodiments ofthe present invention, the receiver on the appliance 60 is thatcurrently in use such that no modification need be made to the receiver.For those appliances currently without receivers (e.g., lights,microwave ovens, coffee makers, etc.), it is preferred that they will beequipped with these general use, low-cost receivers (e.g., IR or RFreceivers) in order to take advantage of the present invention.

[0030] Alternatively, after the command signal 35 is received by theremote control 10, there is an additional step of acknowledgment orvalidation before a control signal 16 is sent to the appliance 60. Theacknowledgment or validation step will allow a user to correct errorsarising from voice-recognition or abort the command. In such anembodiment, the remote control 10 comprises a user interface to permitdisplay of message associated with the command signal 35. Such a displaymay be an LCD display as that used in a cellular phone or a personaldigital assistant (e.g., a Palm Pilot™ from Palm, Inc. of Santa Clara,Calif.).

[0031] One skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiment ofFIG. 1 is for illustration only and variations of this embodiment arepossible. For example, the command signal 35 generated by thevoice-recognition processor 52 can be transmitted directly to theappliance 60. In such an embodiment, the command signal 35 will be in aformat compatible with the common IR or RF receiver found on theappliance 60 and the remote control 10 will not need the second receiver(30 in FIG. 2) and the second transmitter (14 in FIG. 2).

[0032]FIG. 2 illustrates key components of the remote control 10. Theremote control 10 includes a first receiver 12 (also referred to as amicrophone) for receiving voice commands (21 in FIG. 1) and to output avoice signal 26. The remote control 10 also includes a first transmitter20 (also referred to as an audio transmitter) to transmit audio inputsignal 25 based on the voice signal 26 to the host system 50. In someembodiments of the present invention, the audio input signal 25 and thevoice signal 26 may be the same signal. In other embodiments, the audioinput signal 25 and the voice signal 26 may have differentcharacteristics. Further, the remote control 10 includes a secondreceiver 30 (a signal receiver) to receive the command signal 35transmitted from the host system, and a second transmitter 14 (a signaltransmitter) to transmit the control signal 16 to the appliance (60 inFIG. 1). In some embodiments, the second transmitter 14 is a type thatwill transmit IR or RF signals such as those commonly used withtraditional remote controls. These key components constitute oneembodiment of the remote control of the present invention. One skilledin the art will appreciate that many variations are possible withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. For example, theremote control 10 may further include amplifiers or filters for signalconditioning, or the remote control 10 may not need the second receiver30 and the second transmitter 14 if, as discussed above, the host systemdirectly transmits the command signal 35 to the appliance 60.

[0033]FIG. 2A illustrates another embodiment of the remote control 10.In this embodiment, the remote control 10 further comprises a trivialvoice-recognition processor 15. The voice-recognition processor 15 canextract the appliance identification information from the voice signal26. Once extracted, the appliance identification information can beeither included in the audio input signal 25 sent by the audiotransmitter 20 or sent to the signal transmitter 14 to be used to encodethe control signal 16.

[0034]FIG. 2B illustrates yet another embodiment of the remote control10. In this embodiment, the remote control 10 further comprises a userinterface 17, which may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) or othercomponents (e.g., light emission diodes, LEDs) to display or indicatethe contents of the command signal 35 or to indicate the correctness ofthe command signal 35. A “user interface” is used herein to refer to adevice (or components) that provides feedback (e.g., via LCD or LED) andallows a user to acknowledge and/or make correction, if necessary,before forwarding a command to an appliance. In this embodiment, theuser has an opportunity to acknowledge or validate the command signal 35generated by the host system before sending the control signal 16 to theappliance 60. If there is any error in the command signal 35, the usermay have an opportunity to correct the error or to abort the operationand start over. For example, the user interface 17 may display “VCR #1,record channel 13 from 6 PM to 8 PM.” Then, the user will acknowledgeand send the command to the appliance (VCR #1), if this is correct.Otherwise, the user may correct the error or abort the operation by notsending the control signal 16. Inclusion of such an acknowledgment andvalidating step in the embodiments of the present invention is preferredbecause the reliability of voice-recognition technology is not yetfoolproof.

[0035] A further embodiment, which includes both a trivialvoice-recognition processor 15 and a user interface 17, is illustratedin FIG. 2C. In this embodiment, the remote control 10 has bothadvantages disclosed in the embodiments shown in FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C.That is, the remote control 10 as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 2C iscapable of both extracting the appliance identification information fromthe voice signal 26 and allowing the user to acknowledge or validate thecommand.

[0036] Again, the embodiments as shown in FIGS. 2, 2A, 2B, and 2C arefor illustration only. One skilled in the art, with the benefit of thisdisclosure, will appreciate that other variations are possible withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

[0037] The voice-recognition processor 52 of the host system 50 can beany of the voice-recognition systems known in the art or anymodification thereof. FIG. 3 illustrates one example of avoice-recognition system. One skilled in the art will appreciate thatother variations of the voice-recognition system can be substitutedwithout departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 3, the input signal 2 received from the hostreceiver 51 (see FIG. 1) is amplified by an input amplifier 4. Noise isremoved from the amplified input signal by a bandpass filter 6, beforeit is sent to an automatic gain control 8, which is a feedback loop thataccepts a varying input signal and uses feedback to maintain a constantoutput signal. The automatic gain control 8 is in constant communicationwith a microcontroller 40 by feeding a signal 84 to the microcontroller40 and receiving a feedback signal 48 back from the microcontroller 40.The microcontroller 40 maintains an ambient signal level during a presettime window by sending the feedback signals 48 to the automatic gaincontrol circuit 8. The ambient level is used as a starting level forrecognizing speech. Any background noise received by the device duringthe time window that is below the ambient level is ignored. After thetime window has expired, the device establishes a new ambient level. Themicrocontroller 40 can be a specialized digital signal processor or ageneral purpose microcontroller which is configurable for a variety ofapplications including speech recognition.

[0039] The microcontroller circuitry includes the microcontroller 40 anda number of memory modules such as a program memory 41 and speechcommand memory 42. The program memory 41 may be a Read Only Memory (ROM)module which stores the programming code of the microcontroller 40. Theprogramming code establishes the sequence of events that are followed bythe device to produce a control signal 44 in response to valid speechcommands. The control signal 44 is delivered by an output control 43 tothe host transmitter 53 (see FIG. 1) for transmission to the remotecontrol 10 (see FIG. 1). The speech command memory 42 may employ aRandom Access Memory (RAM) module which stores the speech commands. Themicrocontroller 40 may further include RAM memory (not shown) forperforming voice recognition. The term “memory module” does notnecessarily refer to separate circuit elements. For example, all ROMdata may be stored in the same circuit element, but at different addressblock locations.

[0040]FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating how some embodiments of thepresent invention may operate. Before the voice-recognition systemprocesses any signal, an ambient level of signal is established in step71. The ambient level is then compared with the audio input signal 25(see FIG. 1) received by the host receiver 51 (see FIG. 1) in step 72.If the audio input signal 25 is not above the ambient level, thevoice-recognition system will not perform any processing and the systemgoes back to establish a new ambient level. If the audio input signal 25is above the ambient level, then the audio input signal is processed instep 73 to generate a command signal 35 (see FIG. 1) in step 74.Depending on the embodiments of the invention, the command signal 35 maybe transmitted (pathway A) directly to the appliance 60 (see FIG. 1) or(pathway B) to the remote control 10 (see FIG. 1) in step 76. If thecommand signal 35 is transmitted to the remote control 10 (pathway B),the command signal 35 may be used (pathway C) to generate a controlsignal 16 (see FIG. 2) for transmission to the appliance 60 in step 78.Alternatively, the command signal 35 may be sent (pathway D) to a userinterface 17 (see FIG. 2C) for user validation in step 77. If thecommand signal is correct, the user may send it as a control signal 16to the appliance 60 in step 78. If the command signal 35 has some error,the user may correct the error and then send the corrected command inthe form of a control signal 16 to the appliance 60 in step 78.Alternatively, the user may abort the operation, when the command signalincludes error.

[0041]FIG. 4 illustrates examples of how some embodiments of the presentinvention may operate. These examples are not comprehensive; othervariations are possible. For example, these systems may further includesteps for signal amplification and noise filtering. One skilled in theart, having the benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that othervariations are possible without departing from the scope of the presentinvention.

[0042] While the invention has been described using a limited number ofembodiments, those skilled in the art, having the benefit of thisdisclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments are possible withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein.Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by theattached claims.

What is claimed is: 1 A voice-translating remote control comprising: amicrophone operable to receive a voice command and output a voicesignal; an audio transmitter operably connected to the microphone totransmit an audio input signal to a host system based on the voicesignal; a signal receiver arranged to receive a command signaltransmitted by the host system; and a signal transmitter operablyconnected to the signal receiver to transmit a control signal to anappliance based on the command signal. 2 The remote control of claim 1,wherein the signal transmitter is one selected from the group consistingof an infrared transmitter and a radio frequency transmitter. 3 Theremote control of claim 1, wherein the audio transmitter transmits theaudio input signal to the host system via wireless communication, andthe host system transmits the command signal to the signal receiver viawireless communication. 4 The remote control of claim 1, furthercomprising a memory for storing appliance identity information. 5 Theremote control of claim 4, further comprising a voice-recognitionprocessor for extracting appliance identification information from thevoice signal. 6 The remote control of claim 1, further comprising a userinterface. 7 The remote control of claim 5, further comprising a userinterface. 8 A voice-translating remote control system comprising: ahost system comprising a host receiver, a voice-recognition processor,and a host transmitter, wherein the host receiver is operably connectedto the voice-recognition processor, which is in turn operably connectedto the host transmitter; and a remote control comprising a microphoneoperable to receive a voice command and output a voice signal, an audiotransmitter operably connected to the microphone to transmit an audioinput signal to the host system based on the voice signal, a signalreceiver arranged to receive a command signal transmitted by the hostsystem, and a signal transmitter operably connected to the signalreceiver to transmit a control signal to an appliance based on thecommand signal. 9 The voice-translating remote control system of claim8, wherein the remote control further comprising a user interface. 10The voice-translating remote control system of claim 8, wherein theaudio transmitter transmits the audio input signal to the host systemvia wireless communication, and the host system transmits the commandsignal to the signal receiver via wireless communication. 11 Thevoice-translating remote control system of claim 8, wherein the signaltransmitter is one selected from the group consisting of an infraredtransmitter and a radio frequency transmitter. 12 A voice-translatingremote control system comprising: a host system comprising a hostreceiver, a voice-recognition processor, and a host transmitter, whereinthe host receiver is operably connected to the voice-recognitionprocessor, which is in turn operably connected to the host transmitter,the host transmitter being capable of transmitting a control signal toan appliance; and a remote control comprising a microphone operable toreceive a voice command and output a voice signal, and an audiotransmitter operably connected to the microphone to transmit an audioinput signal to the host system based on the voice signal. 13 Thevoice-translating remote control system of claim 12, wherein the audiotransmitter transmits the audio input signal to the host system viawireless communication, and the host system transmits the control signalto the appliance via wireless communication. 14 The voice-translatingremote control system of claim 12, wherein the host transmitter is oneselected from the group consisting of an infrared transmitter and aradio frequency transmitter. 15 A voice-translating remote controlcomprising: a microphone to receive a voice command and output a voicesignal; a first transmitter means operably connected to the microphonefor transmitting an audio input signal to a host system based on thevoice signal; a receiver means for receiving a command signaltransmitted by the host system; and a second transmitter means operablyconnected to the receiver means for transmitting a control signal to anappliance based on the command signal. 16 The voice-translating remotecontrol of claim 15, further comprising a user interface means forvalidating the command signal. 17 A method for controlling an applianceusing voice commands comprising: receiving a voice command by amicrophone in a remote control and outputting a voice signal;transmitting an audio input signal based on the voice signal to a hostsystem comprising a host receiver, a speech-recognition processor, and ahost transmitter; processing the audio input signal by thespeech-recognition processor to generate a command signal; transmittingthe command signal to the remote control; receiving the command signalby the remote control; and wirelessly transmitting a control signal tothe appliance based on the command signal. 18 The method of claim 17,wherein transmitting the audio input signal to the host system is viawireless communication and transmitting the command signal to the remotecontrol is via wireless communication. 19 The method of claim 17,further comprising validating the command signal received by the remotecontrol. 20 A method for remotely controlling an appliance using voicecommands comprising: receiving a voice command by a microphone in aremote control and outputting a voice signal; transmitting an audioinput signal based on the voice signal to a host system comprising ahost receiver, a speech-recognition processor, and a host transmitter;processing the audio input signal by the speech-recognition processor togenerate a command signal; and wirelessly transmitting the commandsignal from the host system to the appliance. 21 The method of claim 20,wherein transmitting the audio input signal to the host system is viawireless communication.